Prescribe NCERT books in schools: Child rights panel to Chandigarh education dept
The commission wrote to the UT education department after the Chandigarh Parents Association filed a complaint to the Chandigarh Commission for the Protection of Child Rights alleging violation of child rights.
After the Chandigarh Parents Association (CPA) filed a complaint to the Chandigarh Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (CCPCR) alleging violation of child rights by prescribing extra subjects and non-NCERT textbooks in kindergarten and primary classes by various city schools, the commission has written to the UT education department asking it to recommend NCERT books in city schools.
The CPA, in its complaint, mentioned that prescribing non-NCERT books was a violation of the orders of the education department, NCPCR, CBSE and high courts.
The complaint read, “Almost all private schools in Chandigarh are openly flouting directions of the agencies concerned and non-NCERT textbooks are being prescribed, partly out of the profit motive and partly to satisfy parents as customers, who pay huge fees by making them believe that their child is getting value for money by learning so many things.”
Nitin Goyal, CPA president, alleged three city schools were prescribing non-NCERT books. The letter read, “a bare perusal of the lists of books prescribed by these schools reveals that additional subjects such as computer, technology, art and craft, moral science and GK are introduced in early classes, even at the kindergarten level in some cases.”
It added, “First, schools do not use NCERT books, and they ask students to purchase 2-3 books of each subject in addition to workbooks and notebooks. Besides the financial burden on the parents and the mental pressure on tiny kids, it directly results in heavy weight of school bags affecting the physical and mental health of children in the long run.”